Caf announces new Africa Cup of Nations sponsor

The continent's football governing body has reached an agreement with a new sponsor for the African Cup of Nations

The Confederation of African Football has announced Total as the official sponsor of African football for the next eight years.

The multi-national oil company that has operations in over 40 African countries will replace telecommunications company Orange as the Afcon title sponsors, the women’s AFCON, U17, U20 and U23 Afcons as well as the African Nations Championship, Caf Champions League, Confederation Cup and Super Cup.

Caf confirmed this on their website as a major milestone in its ongoing search for additional resources to accelerate African football’s development.

"The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Total reached an agreement today under which the Group will become the official sponsor of African football for the next eight years.

"Total will support Caf’s ten principal competitions, starting with the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which has a global audience. Renamed the Total Africa Cup of Nations, the tournament will be held in Gabon from January 14th to February 5th, 2017."

The sponsorship deal takes effect from next year's Afcon billed for 2017 in Gabon.